The Signs We Don't Want to See...

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.  (Matthew 12)

"Rest Area Closed."  "Construction Next 26 miles." "Speed checked by aircraft." These are signs that are important - things we need to be aware of - which we really do not like to see.  We want the road laid out before us to be smooth, with no congestion, and to go where we want it to go.  The Pharisees wanted signs that they wanted to see: billboards telling them how great they were, how their way was the right way, and that they were to be respected and trusted. But those would have been unsafe signs - saying things that really were not true, which if followed, would have led on a perilous journey.  Jonah in a sense also wanted to see a sign: "If you really want me to preach to the Ninevites, You're going to have to move me there; I want to run away from there."  Jonah got the sign he did not want.  The Pharisees rejected the signs they did see, and most of them rejected this sign they did not want: Jesus dying on the cross for them. It was the sign which said: "Why is this Man dying?  If it is not for His own crimes, then why?"  The only answer is unnerving: Jesus died for sinners like me. That being true and said, my whole journey requires a change in course, a rerouting like Noah had to take, an admission I have been going my way, and I need to start obeying the signs God puts in my path.  Are you really looking for a sign?  Probably God has already put it up and you've blown right past it. Slow down, look, listen, and ask again - not for the signs you want, but the signs you need to see and follow.